Chennai, Sept 28 (ANI): In a first for India, an artificial heart pump was installed in the chest cavity of a 42-year-old man after he was diagnosed with rare heart disease. The procedure was successfully conducted at the Fortis Malar hospital in Chennai by Dr K R Balakrishnan, who is the director of the Cardiac Sciences Division. The Heartware Ventricular Assist Device (HVAD) gave the patient, Satish Kumar, the ability to carry on with his life and revive his heart, which was once functioning at only 15 percent. Speaking to a journalist in Chennai, Balakrishnan said that considering Kumar’s heart condition the only two options were either install the pump or undergo a transplant. As the transplant could take atleast three months, depending on the availability of a healthy heart, installing the pump was the only option. Kumar was diagnosed with end-stage heart failure, medically referred to as dilated Cardiomyopathy, a condition due to which the heart’s main chambers fail to pump blood.
